Needle exchanges provide people with drug addictions a place to turn in used needles and get new ones while working to prevent outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV. In 2017, Las Vegas installed three vending machines to dispense free, unused needles.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young learns more from Chelsi Cheatom, program manager for Trac-B Exchange, a medical clinic in Clark County, Nevada.

It's too early to tell if Hamilton County's needle exchange program may be making a difference in local HIV infections. The number of new cases in the first quarter of this year is less than the same period last year. But more of the cases come from intravenous drug use (IDU).

Health officials in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky recently reported an increase in the number of HIV cases linked to injection drug use in the region. The increase is the result of the continuing heroin crisis, as drug users share needles contaminated with the virus. That's why many health experts advocate for needle exchange programs, such as The Cincinnati Exchange Project (CEP), or the one operated in the Northern Kentucky Health Department's Grant County office.

Needle exchange programs allow intravenous drug users to trade in used needles for sterile ones, and are designed to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C among drug users. They are also an effective way to present addicts with information about drug treatment programs and other social services.

The record numbers of deaths due to drug overdoses in many parts of the country, including Ohio, is the most tragic result of the heroin and opiate epidemic. But the social costs of drug abuse are also on a dramatic rise. Last year thousands of individuals were arrested just in Hamilton County alone on drug-related charges.